Garden to Take
by verecund
Summary: It is as what it says. [Although, I couldn't find a nice cover image. My apologies...]


When he had free time, he wandered over to the nearby park. It was a simple thing, a few bushes, trees, flowers here and there, but he liked it. Not too many people frequented the park on the weekdays, when he usually went, so he was able to focus more on the greenery around him.

When he had free time, he wandered over to the nearby park. He stumbled across a gazebo. He never saw it before. Was it new? he asked himself, but the moss and ivy growing around it told him otherwise. On warmer days he would take refuge under the shade of the gazebo, maybe take a nap or read a book while he was at it.

When he had free time, he wandered over to the nearby park. Often times he would head straight there, right after work, no matter what time. He was thankful it was open 24/7, he might not get through the day otherwise. His job was truly taxing on the body. He looked out of place, always wearing a suit and tie. On the rare occasion that a whole day was all to himself, he might spare the suit and loosen up his dress shirt.

The park, to him, was a place of comfort and intrigue. No matter how many times he went he found something different, perhaps even new, about it.

* * *

He entered the park and walked on one of many paths that laid within. He looked off into the distance and noticed a structure he hadn't seen before. Outwardly, the man didn't show any change of expression, but as of that moment he felt excited. Another discovery! If a person looked close enough, they could detect the slight difference in his walk. His pace was quicker and there was a lightness to his step.

He veered off the trail and upon reaching the structure saw a small, golden key on the ground. He looked up and noticed that the entrance to the building was unlocked. Wanting to satisfy his curiosity, the young man went inside. "A greenhouse? I never knew," he said to himself out loud. He had not expected it to have so much variety considering its modest size. His eyes took in every detail.

Like the park, the greenhouse was also a simple thing. It looked new, however he noticed a bit of sun damage on the walls. He extended his hand to touch a leaf that hung over the side of a pot. He stopped himself, however, when he heard the clattering of, what he guessed were, gardening tools. Slowly he headed towards the noise.

In front of him was a blond man crouching over some roses. Flowers in hand, the man looked up to him. "Oh, was I being too loud?" he asked.

"No, no, not at all. Or rather, I don't really mind it."

"Well that's good. I was just- oh! Where did my key go?" the blond exclaimed, frantically looking around.

"You mean this one here?"

"Yes! Thank you, I must have dropped it at the door. I was in too much of a rush to play with the roses it seems. By the way, may I ask for your name? I'm Slaine Troyard."

"Not a problem Slaine. I'm Inaho. Inaho Kaizuka," he replied as he handed the key over.

"Oh, so that's your name. I've seen you around plenty of times, your suit is hard to miss. Speaking of which, you aren't wearing one today." Slaine commented, getting up from his spot. He patted down his clothes to remove whatever dirt was still on him.

"Ah, no. I'm off from work at the moment so I'm just wearing whatever I have," Inaho deadpanned.

"I see..." The blond looked as though there was something else that he wanted to say.

"Slaine?" Inaho started, running his hand through his brown hair.

The young man perked up his head. "Yes?"

"Do you like roses?" The answer was obvious, but for some reason the brunet had the desire to keep up their conversation.

Slaine caught on to his intention and flashed a smile. "Yes! Roses are really wonderful, you know. Depending on the color they have different meanings. I'll show you some when I get the chance. I can't right now because they're in a different location. But you could always look them up online-"

"I'd rather seem them in person with you." Inaho saw Slaine's face light up, but it went away as soon as he added, "It's better to be with an expert."

"Ah, that's true. Well, I still have some work to do. Feel free to visit the greenhouse again, though," the blond offered.

"I'll be sure to do just that."

Before Inaho left, he felt a weight on his arm. "I almost forgot!" the gardener burst out. "Here, take back this key! Don't look at me like that, I have another one somewhere, it's fine. Without this key you won't be able to gain access to the greenhouse!"

"Well, not unless you forget to lock up," the brunet smirked. Slaine let out a "hmpf" and shoved the piece of metal into the man's hand. "Thanks Slaine."

* * *

Inaho began to visit the park more often, specifically the greenhouse. He would never admit this out loud, but he was even considering increasing the amount of vacation days from work. He could afford to, so why not? The brunet enjoyed having Slaine babble on about his extensive knowledge of flowers.

"You like the park don't you?" The blond said it more as a statement rather than a question.

"I do."

"Do you ever visit other parks or gardens?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I mean, this park is enough for me," Inaho shrugged. He laid down on the grass and closed his eyes, thoroughly enjoying the breeze.

Slaine hummed in response, sitting beside Inaho. He turned to the young man. "Say, why don't you come by my house?"

The brunet stared at him.

"I have a garden of my own. I thought you might be interested? I'm free this Saturday and if you are too, you can drop by. But wait, you don't really-"

Inaho sat up. His hand brushed Slaine's in the process. He gave it a small squeeze. "I guess I could make an exception."

Slaine grinned. "Great!"

* * *

It wasn't hard to reach the gardener's house. Though, it _was_ pretty far away. Slaine's house was as he expected, not too big and surrounded by flora of all types. Inaho stepped onto the porch of the house and rang the doorbell. He could hear the patter of footsteps. Not too long after, the man he was looking forward to seeing swung the door open. "Hey Inaho," the blond beamed. "Instead of coming inside, just follow me." The brunet nodded in understanding.

Slaine led the way into a small clearing. Inaho was impressed, just like the day he found the greenhouse, maybe even more. "You have a lot here."

"Yeah."

What caught his attention the most were the different kinds of the roses. "So this is what you meant by the roses being elsewhere."

"I just brought them over to you so I suppose you wouldn't know where they were exactly." Slaine looked thoughtful. "Want to see something cool?"

"Sure."

Slaine motioned Inaho over to where he was and pointed to some more roses.

"Oh. Blue roses?" Inaho asked.

"You bet. I've been trying for the longest time to grow them. Do you think I did a good job or what?"

"Or what." Inaho felt a pain in his arm after his answer.

"You know what they mean right?"

"You've told me before that they meant 'the impossible'," he replied.

"Well, the other meaning is 'miracle'. And it sure is a miracle they grew," Slaine laughed.

Inaho got the feeling there was more to that statement, but didn't press it. After the visit, he began to frequent Slaine's home and vice versa.

The company sure was nice.

* * *

Months went by and it was starting to get colder. So instead of going to the park, Inaho just went to Slaine's place. The blond himself still went to the park to tend to the greenhouse, but in general stayed with Inaho. During one of the days that Slaine stopped by it started to snow.

"Slaine, it's snowing," Inaho stated, seated comfortably on the couch.

"I can certainly see that," the blue-eyed man replied, gazing out of the window.

"Are you okay with that? Won't your plants get damaged?"

"Before coming, I covered them up. But even if some snow went in I wouldn't be disheartened."

"Hmm..." Inaho leaned over and placed his head in the crook of Slaine's neck.

"You know, gardening is like taking care of a heart," Slaine began while he absentmindedly stroked the brunet's hair. "Like heart as in a feeling sense. Love? I guess it extends to other things too. You have to take care of it. First you need to plant the seed. Then you have to tend to it. There are times when you think the plant might die, but there's usually a way to save it. Maybe some more sun, some more water. But too much will ruin it. And if the plant ends up dying, you can always plant another seed and start all over again. However, if everything lives, then the garden ends up being really beautiful."

Still fixed in his position, Inaho clarified, "So first you need to start a relationship. A friendship, a romantic one perhaps? You have to care for the other party. There will be fights, personal affairs, and other things. Sometimes you'll need to give the person more attention or less. But too much love or absence ruins the relationship. However, the end of one relationship doesn't mean the end of all. There will always be opportunities to start another."

"Exactly."

* * *

It was one year since they met. Inaho fixed his tie and had a single rose in his hand. He stood by the greenhouse and waited for Slaine. The brunet had visited a florist shop earlier to pick out the flower. He wasn't in the position to ask the blond so that was the second best option.

"Oh, hey Inaho!" Slaine greeted as he approached the well-dressed man.

Inaho just gave a smile and handed over the rose. "I would assume you know the meaning of a single red rose, yes?"

"Indeed I do. It means- it means 'I love you'."

"Remember that time you talked about gardens?"

"I always do, though."

"When you compared gardening to that of a heart."

Slaine's eyes widened, understanding where he was coming from now.

"If that's the case," Inaho said, moving closer towards Slaine, "then I wouldn't mind taking your garden. Actually, I wouldn't mind taking all of you."

In that instant, Slaine stole a quick kiss on the lips. "I wouldn't mind it either."

"But really, that was pretty cheesy," the blond laughed. "You're so 'Mr. Emotionless' and here you are trying to be all romantic.""I guess I just have to practice," Inaho grinned, giving Slaine a kiss of his own.

* * *

 _A/N: This was pretty rushed. This was actually dedicated to a friend of mine who wanted some fluff after reading so much Inasure angst. I wanted more cuddles and sweets but alas._

 _I must've made a lot of mistakes since I wrote this so quickly, so please tell me if I have any spelling or grammatical errors! ^u^_


End file.
